KAROI Staff at Karoi District Hospital are on go-slow to protest against a senior doctor whom they accuse of incompetence and of refusing to release funds to pay for the electrification of the hospital mortuary.
Karoi hospital, situated about 204 kilometres north-west of Harare, is a referral centre for Hurungwe rural district which has 15 clinics that refer serious and complicated cases to the hospital. The hospital also caters for clinics on former commercial farms around Karoi town.??
Sources at the hospital said the doctor had failed to release money to electrify the mortuary for the past six months, adding that lack of power to keep the morgue running has forced relatives to bury their deceased loved ones within two days, before corpses start to decompose.??
To compound the mortuary saga in Hurungwe district, two other mortuaries at Magunje and Mwami clinics were also not working. Both fall under the same medical officers administration.??
He has never bothered to have the mortuaries repaired and its affecting us. We can not allow people to keep bodies for more than two days as they will rot said a mortuary attendant.??
The doctor is also being blamed by patients for refusing to give them food. Patients can go for days without food because he just wants money released to buy the food when he is only around.
He can not delegate responsibilities to anyone. Unfortunately he is hardly available at the hospital as he is always away attending workshops and meetings out of town said another worker.??
Last week, Radio VOP reporter witnessed patients being forced to go home as the doctor was not available to assess them.?
The only clinical officer who used to assist many patients is said to be ill. Some junior nurses said the doctor is planning to transfer those suspected to be behind the go-slow.??
I have been to the hospital for three days but the doctor is never there and I got assistance from a private doctor. How many can afford that? said Mathias Mutero of Mujinga village 80 kilometres from Karoi town last week.??Hospital authorities were not available for comment.
Post published in: News